Sharma treble stuns England

Ishant Sharma took three wickets, including two in one over, to give India hope of an improbable win against England in the first Test at Lord's here on Sunday.

England, at lunch on the fourth day, had collapsed to 72 for five in their second innings -- 260 runs ahead -- after Sharma had taken three wickets for one runs in 16 balls on his way to a return of three for 15 in 13 overs.

And with the highest fourth innings total to win a Test at Lord's, the 344 for one made by West Indies in 1984, England's lead was far from impregnable.

England, five without loss overnight, found runs hard to come by early Sunday even though India were again missing fast bowler Zaheer Khan, off the field with the hamstring injury that had sidelined him for most of this match,

Opener Alastair Cook took 27 balls for one run before he was caught behind by India captain and wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni off Praveen Kumar, who had taken a Test-best five for 106 in England's first innings.

But the real slump started when England captain Andrew Strauss, trying to break the shackles, was lbw for 32 to off-spinner Harbhajan Singh after missing a sweep.

His exit left England 54 for two and that soon became 55 for four thanks to Sharma's double-wicket maiden.

Kevin Pietersen had made a superb 202 not out in England's first innings 474 for eight declared.

But in ideal sunny batting conditions, the advancing Pietersen was undone by a steepling delivery from fast bowler Sharma he could only nick through to Dhoni and, five balls later, Ian Bell went in similar fashion for nought.

Sharma wasn't finished, however, bowling Jonathan Trott for 22 with a good length ball that clipped off stump.

Eoin Morgan and Matt Prior were both five not out at lunch as India, who will cede top spot in the ICC's Test Championship rankings to England if they lose this four-match series by two Tests, made clear their determination to stay number one.

India suffered a setback before play began when Sachin Tendulkar was prevented from taking the field with a viral infection, a day after his latest bid to score his 100th international hundred ended with him being dismissed for just 34.

However, India avoided the follow-on Saturday thanks to Rahul Dravid's unbeaten 103 -- his first Test hundred at Lord's coming 15 years after he scored 95 at the ground on his Test debut.

His innings also took Dravid past Australia's Ricky Ponting and into second place behind Tendulkar in the all-time list of Test run-scorers.